At least 35 killed in Afghanistan as bus collides with fuel tanker

Many charred beyond recognition as bus bursts into flames after collision in Zabul province.

At least 35 people have died after a bus collided with a fuel tanker in the southern Zabul province of Afghanistan [Picture for representation]WAKIL KOHSAR/AFP/Getty Images

At least 35 people were killed in Afghanistan's southern province of Zabul in the early hours of Sunday, 4 September, as a bus collided with a fuel tanker and burst into flames.

Several of the victims, who include women and children, were charred beyond recognition in the latest road accident to hit the worn-torn country. Zabul province is one of the worst affected by the Taliban insurgency.

The governor of the province, Bismillah Afghanmal, told AFP: "The passenger bus was on its way from Kandahar to Kabul when it collided with a fuel tanker in Jildak area of Zabul. In the accident, 35 people were killed and more than 20 others wounded."

Deputy police chief of Zabul, Ghulam Jilani Farahi, said some of the wounded were rushed to the hospital in the provincial capital Qalat and some to neighbouring Kandahar.

According to AFP, the Kabul-Kandahar highway is affected by insurgency and those who drive through the area normally do so at very high speeds so as to avoid the militants.

At least 73 people were killed in May when two passenger buses and a fuel tanker collided and burst into flames in eastern Ghazni province, which is labelled as one of the worst accidents in the country. In April 2013, another collision killed 45 people in Kandahar province. Afghanistan has some of the most dangerous roads in the world, often in poor condition and traffic rules are seldom observed.

Last November, the World Bank signed off a $250m grant to repair roads crossing the Hindu Kush mountains.